The house is a two-story Craftsman residence completed in 1910,[3] on a multi-acre lot within the Los Altos Land Company's holding, acquired from Sarah Winchester in 1907.

The Douglas fir door trim throughout the house is six inches wide with a curved radius: a transitional design bridging the Victorian and American Craftsman styles.

Paul Shoup (1874–1946) was president and later vice-chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1920s and 1930s,[7][8] a founding board member of the Stanford University School of Business,[9] and founder of the community of Los Altos.

[14] Influenced by Los Altan and Stanford professor Yvor Winters,[15] issei Bunichi Kagawa[16] became a writer penning poetry in both his native Japanese and in English, collected in the 1930 volume Hidden Flame.

[18]After the rehabilitation was complete, the house was blessed by a local Catholic priest,[17] and then was the venue for a Shoup centennial celebration hosted by the Jennings family for the benefit of the Los Altos History Museum.

[15][22] Homeowners Bill and Tricia Jennings applied for National Register status on behalf of the Paul Shoup House with assistance from Garavaglia Architecture, Inc. of San Francisco.